Cabrera hits 40th as Tigers take series against Royals

By LARRY LAGE

Sunday, August 18, 2013

DETROIT (AP) ó Miguel Cabrera hit his 40th home run and had an RBI single to help Max Scherzer become baseballís first 18-game winner this season as the Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 Sunday to win the five-game series.

The reigning Triple Crown winner became the third player since 1921 to have at least 40 homers and 120 RBIs while batting .350 or better through 116 games, joining Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx, according to STATS.

Scherzer (18-1) gave up two runs on five hits over eight innings. Scherzer and Roger Clemens are the pitchers since 1919 to have 18 wins in their first 19 decisions, STATS said. Clemens did it with the New York Yankees in 2001, when he finished 20-3.

Royals manager Ned Yost said before the game that intentionally walking Cabrera wasnít a good option because Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez hit behind him.

After Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a run-scoring single in the third, Yost chose to give Cabrera a free pass in the fifth inning with a runner on third and Fielder followed with an inning-ending groundout. Cabrera has eight homers in 13 games.

Cabrera leads the majors in batting (.360) and RBIs (120). His home run pulled him within four of Baltimoreís Chris Davis for the big league lead.

Cabrera connected a day after his leadoff home run in the ninth inning beat Kansas City. The Royals lost three of five this weekend and left Comerica Park in third place, trailing the AL Central-leading Tigers by 8 1/2 games.

Joaquin Benoit entered in the ninth in a non-save situation and gave up a solo homer to the first batter he faced, Billy Butler, on a 1-2 pitch to let the Royals pull within three runs.

Bruce Chen (5-1) allowed six earned runs ó more than he had given up in his last six starts ó on eight hits over 5 1-3 innings.

Austin Jackson led off with a single on Chenís second pitch and Cabrera followed with a line drive over the left-field wall.

Cabrera became the third player in franchise history to hit 40 homers in consecutive seasons. Hank Greenberg did it during the 1937 and 1938 seasons while Cecil Fielder pulled off the feat in 1990 and 1991.

Cabrera put Detroit up 3-0 in the third with a single, taking advantage of a pitch to hit when Yost chose not to walk him with Torii Hunter on second base.

Hunterís sacrifice fly in the fifth gave the Tigers a four-run lead. They went ahead 6-0 in the sixth on Brayan Penaís double, which chased Chen, and Ramon Santiagoís single on Louis Colemanís first pitch.

The Royals had only one hit through three innings and two after six innings. They scored two runs on three hits in the seventh against Scherzer. Salvador Perez had an RBI groundout and Emilio Bonifacio pulled Kansas City without four runs with a run-scoring double.

NOTES: The Tigers are off Monday, then host Minnesota. ... The Royals will play the Chicago White Sox at home on Tuesday night after an off-day. ... Detroit hopes 2B Omar Infante, who left Saturday nightís game with back stiffness, can return to play Tuesday night against the Twins. ... Kansas City kept 3B Mike Moustakas out of the lineup as planned, a day after he returned from an injured left calf. ... Scherzer and Chen were the first pitchers to enter a game with a combined record of 22-1, with both having at least five decisions, since 1919, STATS said. ... Scherzer had four strikeouts, ending his 24-game streak with at least five strikeouts, the third longest streak to begin a season by an AL pitcher, trailing Bob Feller (1946) and Pedro Martinez (2000).